PUL-E-KHUMRI (Dispatches) – Taliban militants’ offensive to overrun Tala-o-Barfak district in Afghanistan’s northern Baghlan province has been foiled and the militants have suffered casualties, police said Saturday.
“The Taliban militants launched multi-pronged attacks on Tala-o-Barfak district today morning but police in sharp reaction retaliated, forcing the militants to flee after suffering casualties, and leaving four bodies behind and three more injured,” provincial police spokesman Jawed Basharat told Xinhua.
One policeman has been killed and two others injured, the official said.
Meanwhile, dozens of tribal chiefs were arrested across Afghanistan on charges of encouraging government soldiers to surrender to the Taliban, officials and lawmakers said on Friday, as the militants have stepped up attacks against Kabul forces.
Fighting in Afghanistan has intensified in the past weeks. The Taliban have advanced their strikes, raising concerns in Kabul that they might retake power either by force or by winning over government troops.
The Interior Ministry announced earlier this week that the involvement of village elders in persuading Kabul soldiers to leave their bases in return for safe passage is “direct cooperation with the enemy.”
“Dozens of them have been arrested, their cases will be referred to legal and judicial authorities,” the ministry’s spokesman Tariq Arian told Arab News.